clown car

Meaning

Noun

• A circus clown routine in which an implausibly large number of clowns climb into or out of a small car.
• The undersized car used in a circus clown car routine.
• A very small car.
• A car or small enclosed space with too many people in it.
• Any process with a comically large number of participants.
• A car that looks gaudy or otherwise ridiculous.
• A car for clowns, especially the car of a circus train that carries the clowns.

Origin

• From a comedy routine first invented by the Cole Brothers Circus during the 1950s.